1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a vibration damper or, more specifically, a shock strut for articulated installation between a car body and a wheel guide part in a motor vehicle. The vibration damper has a piston rod sealably guided in a cylinder. The connections between the vibration damper and the car body and the wheel guide are made using an elastic joint. The elastic joint and the vibration damper form a constructional unit that is connected to the wheel guide part or the car body by a quick connection.
2. Description of the Related Art
To simplify the assembly of shock struts or vibration dampers, it is desirable for the vibration dampers to form together with the elastic joint, an assembly unit that can be installed by an easy assembly step which can preferably be carried out by an assembly robot.
Reference DE 44 40 030 A1 shows a simple assembly of a vibration damper or shock strut of the type mentioned above forming a constructional unit with the elastic joint. A catch connection having radially movable spring tongues is provided between the shock strut and the vehicle. These spring tongues are arranged with a structural component part which is fixed with respect to the vehicle. A connection part connected with the vibration damper engages the spring tongues. An elastic clamping body is required which generates an axial pretensioning at the connection location formed by the spring tongues. A problem with an elastic catch connection of this type is that it tends to generate noise when the clamping body force is exceeded and tends to develop wear due to small relative movements between the spring tongues and their contact surfaces.